The King's son keeps flame alive in Ohio

Steve Penhollow

The Journal Gazette

Since Elvis Presley purportedly passed away in 1977, he has been seen by the faithful in Laundromats, doughnut shops and Australian discos.

Anyone still on the hunt might like to direct their attentions “down at the end of lonely street,” or dead center of sparsely populated Ohio 703 in rural Ohio.

They may find an approximation of what they are looking for, although it is up to each person to decide precisely how approximate.

Dreamland, the Elvis Presley Museum, opened in July. The man who runs it, owns the noteworthy memorabilia in it, and performs a dinner theater show at it has long claimed to be the illegitimate son of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll.

So Presley Jr. grew up learning to handle the big cats and did not learn his true parentage, he says, until his 18th birthday.

“He became the youngest animal trainer at the age of 12,” says Jim Highley, Presley Jr.’s manager. “He almost lost a leg and both arms. He was bit through his skull. He speaks seven languages.”

Highley says Presley Jr. proved in court that he is Presley Sr.’s son in the mid-’80s and won the right to use the King’s name, but he says he doesn’t know the exact circumstances.

Presley Jr. says the official Presley estate has never acknowledged him.

“If they did, then they’d have to give me half of everything,” he says.

Col. Parker admitted the truth in private, Presley Jr. says, and there is a photo hanging in the museum of Parker and Presley Jr. looking chummy.

Calls to Presley Enterprises in Memphis, Tenn., were not returned this week.

At least a dozen people have publicly claimed to be Presley Sr.’s unacknowledged offspring since his death.

There’s a man about 13 years older than Ohio’s Elvis who also allegedly got his name legally changed to Elvis Presley Jr., and there was an Elvis Presley Jr. who ran for the Nashville, Tenn., city council in 1991, making no claims of parentage. He apparently changed his name for the publicity.

Presley Jr. knows many people are going to be incredulous about his claims, and it doesn’t bother him.

All he asks is that they reserve judgment until they see him perform.

“I didn’t grow up by his side,” Presley Jr. says. “So there will always be skeptics. At my age, I am past caring. I just want people to come out and see the show.”

Toiletries allegedly owned by Elvis which are now on display at Dreamland

Highley says a dozen Presley fan club members from Cincinnati came out to see Presley Jr.’s show not too long ago, and they were not prepared for their reaction. “The fan club president came up to me afterward and said, ‘We came here to mock and criticize. But the minute he spoke and started to sing, we knew he was – in fact – the son of Elvis,’” Highley says.

Presley says he had a conversation early in his career with Frank Sinatra Jr., a conversation that proved prophetic.

“I went to visit him before his show and he said, ‘Everyone who is here is not here because of me. They’re here because of my father. You will deal with that the rest of your life.’ And he was right.”